GSMA And Facebook Announce Joint Initiative To Connect The Unconnected

Published on: 25th Feb 2014

Note -- this news article is more than a year old.

Facebook has announced an initiative with the GSMA to reduce the cost of mobile services in developing countries in order to expand internet access and hence the reach of its own services.

The activities undertaken by the GSMA and Facebook will entail working with
governments in developing markets to address key factors that have an impact on
affordability and availability.

"While there are nearly 7 billion mobile connections worldwide, there
are only 3.4 billion people that currently have mobile phones," said Tom
Phillips, Chief Regulatory Officer, GSMA. "Connecting the next billion is a
major goal of the GSMA and we are pleased to be working with Facebook and
Internet.org to make this a reality."

The partnership will focus on creating a sustainable environment to
incentivise mobile infrastructure investment and usage, as well as eliminating
or reducing existing mobile-specific taxation or refraining from imposing new
such tax regimes. The GSMA and Facebook recently issued reports elaborating on
these issues.

Together, the GSMA and Facebook will also address a range of other issues
that will improve affordability and help to connect the world's population to
the Internet, such as: maximising the availability of harmonised spectrum to
drive mobile broadband adoption; evaluating the establishment of local Internet
Exchange Points (IXPs); fostering the development of local Internet content; and
examining the effectiveness of Universal Service Funds.

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